The Diego Diaries: Boom (dd6 605)
=0=There
Lissie came storming in like a charging rhino, the guns of her ship firing at the leader in the group, a heavily armed shuttle that was dropping down out of the mishmash forming up in the open space. She followed him downward and was out of sight in seconds.
Roaring out of the darkness behind the cruiser, Xantium was heading like a battering ram into the big ship. He grabbed it and rolled, using a tactic that had already laid waste a number of vessels. He flashed past as Ironhide's shuttle made a hard turn to miss him. He was laughing when he did.
Xantium, that is.
The battleship poured on the steam and began to disappear into the darkness ahead, then it seemed to stop, shudder, fall back and drift downward like a stunned fish. A fireball flashed nearby and debris began to fly out of the clouded darkness in profusion.
Coming around hard, Ironhide and Blackjack's shuttles began to fire in that direction. That was when the nose cone of a cruiser flew past them. The battleship had rammed another cruiser full on during its attempt to flee the scene.
Pulling around hard, Blackjack and Ironhide fell in side-by-side, then opened up on the drifting battleship. They poured fire into the tail and mid sections aiming at the functional equipment that would allow it to remain in battle. As they did the ship signaled surrender.
"Ironhide to Prime."
:Prime here:
"We have a hell pit. A shuttle is being pursued. Xantium grabbed a cruiser and rolled away. We don't know where he went but we'll follow the debris field when you get here. A battleship rammed a second cruiser fleeing and wants to surrender. I'm not clear that there's anything left of the second cruiser to surrender but we'll try to look when things clear a bit."
:Understood. Send position data of what is going on so we can get there. What about prisoners and casualties?:
Ironhide peered out of the view ports. "We have a lot."
:On our way: Prime said. He glanced at Ratchet. "We have a lot of casualties and surrenders nearby. Take Phobos and follow us. We are going in on Ironhide's call."
Ratchet nodded, then rose to run for the elevator. He was gone in seconds. While he exited, the data came and it was grim. Three more big ships demolished, one obliterated by the others in the maelstrom. Xantium was not to be seen on sensors and neither was Lissie's shuttle. When they plotted a path forward, they flew into the field together, Salton Sea and Phobos, disappearing into the nebula toward a scene of devastation.
The humans sat in their box watching silently as the shimmering energy cleared a bit. In a broader area of relative emptiness, a battleship listed as it could be seen to be burning furiously inside through view ports that were still intact. Every moment or so it jerked as something detonated on board. Around the area there were hundreds of survivors, some abandoning ship as it disintegrated underneath their peds.
The cruiser was totaled, its pieces and crew floating in the darkness near the point of impact. Ships were already there gathering them up, taking them through shuttle bridges to the bigger ships, The Salton Sea and Phobos as well as the prison ships. As they were gathered, a flash appeared nearby as a cruiser trailing fire and plasma flew straight upward at one end of the clearing area.
Grasping it with his taloned servo, Xantium was chasing it. His free servo was trying to grasp as well to tear it apart but the speed they both traveled made that difficult. Everyone in the area froze to watch as the two flew onward to disappear once more.
Epps glanced at the others. "You don't see that very often."
The others nodded. "No, you don't," Gavin Pritchard said with a soft tone of complete amazement.
Prime watched as Xantium pursued the cruiser, then both disappeared again. It was clear that Zee had the upper claw on the vessel and they would have to track him to pick up anyone that was able to survive the encounter. As he ruminated on that, Omega appeared. He flew in, then dropped out of sight below everyone.
"Where is he going?" Paragon asked with a slight grin.
"I hope I never have to know," Prowl said with a grin. He had no problem with the two so far. They were whittling down the list of enemy at a pretty good clip.
=0=A ward in the medical center
"Checkmate, slagger," Drift said with a grin.
Springer frowned. "Cheater."
"Poor loser," Drift said. "Want another game?"
"With you?" Springer asked with a smoky optic. He glanced at the foot of the berth. Under the warm thermal blankets both of his peds were jerking. It was still numb from the waist down so he didn't have pain but he had the spectacle of seeing his peds jumping without him making it happen.
Drift glanced at them. "Does it hurt?"
Springer glanced at him a moment. "Only my feelings."
Drift chuckled. "That'll teach you. They said they should be able to test you walking in a joor or two. Maybe. If you show incremental improvement we can go home. Get with it."
Springer smirked at the big handsome mech who he loved more than his own life. "Fragger. Here I am on my bed of pain and you're still being a slave driver."
"I know," Drift said as he leaned in to kiss Springer softly. "You like it."
Springer grinned. "I do."
"Well, well, aren't you two just lovey-dovey," a voice said behind them. "I think I'm going to purge my tanks."
"Frag you, Knockout. What the frag does Breakdown see in a slagger like you?" Springer asked with a slight smirk. He thought Knockout was hilarious in a loser sort of way but he would poke out his own optics before he ever said so. He was no end entertained by the barely contained criminal former Decepticon fragger.
"Everything he needs," Knockout said as he assessed the progress on the devices attached to Springer's limbs. He stared at Springer's peds. "Interesting. Sickening to see but interesting."
"Funny, that's what Breakdown told me about you," Springer said with a chuckle. "Wait until I can get out of this berth. You might not like it."
"You have no idea what I like," Knockout said as he punched a couple of buttons and walked to the door. He did it slowly so they could see his awesome radial tires to their best advantage. Then he left.
"Did you ever work around him in your darker bad boy days?" Springer asked as Drift glanced toward him again.
"Sometimes. I'd rather get an auger in my eyeball than have him doctor me," Drift said.
"Well, you don't have to worry. We'll always have Mom," Springer said as they both laughed loudly. "Go get me a beer and pizza."
"They might not like it," Drift said as he rose, then stretched.
"Frag them. You getting soft?" Springer asked.
Drift smirked. "Who, me?"
Springer snickered as Drift walked to the door to do a pizza and brew run. Springer watched him go. "Yeah, slagger … you. Only you." He would wait impatiently until Drift returned smuggling beer and pizza, brownies frosted with chocolate and cookies in his hold.
All the stuff Springer liked best.
=0=There
Lissie chased the shuttle shooting and being shot. They were scoring good hits but she was scoring better. She had taken over the helm and was flying with the practice and skill only Immortals could being to the table. It was then that a massive form shot past them and rammed the shuttle hard. It had turned fire on the figure but it wasn't adequate to deter him.
Omega Supreme gripped the slag out of the shuttle and crushed it with his servos. It exploded outward as he let it go and barrel rolled. It delivered a couple of good dents in his chassis, nothing debilitating but would require attention and a refinish when they got back home. It would be done under the tender gaze of Silverbolt.
:Omega, you're shot:
:I am. Do not worry, Lissie: Omega began to rip the hull sheets off and fling them away. :Stay back. Destruction imminent:
Lissie pulled hard a port, then slowed safely away as the shuttle was shredded. As it was, a fighter carrier and two small shuttles appeared out of nowhere. "Frag. Lissie to anyone nearby. We have a fighter carrier and a few shuttles. The slaggers are beginning to launch. Join the rodeo while there's some left to shoot."
Radio traffic greeted that message as mechs broke off from the fight nearby to drop down out of sight to join the polka fest. Five Autobot shuttles flew in just as a good 50 one- and two mech fights began to launch from the vast hangars of the transport vessel. It was like stepping on a bee hive with your bare feet.
=0=Over there
"What is the standing on enemy disabled and those still functional, Prowl?" Prime asked as Prowl bent over the data pad collating information at the command table behind his chair.
"I'm gathering it. Confirmed and supposed disabled. Give me a moment, sir," he said as he concentrated.
Nearby, Beta Supreme helped Seekers, Phobos and the prison ships scoop up the prisoners and injured for transport and care. That venerable transport ship was a gent and someone who had never had so many weird functions in his fabled life before this. All of the Supremes were remarkable but only two of them were really committed to their primary function, that of a warrior for The People. All of them would fight but none of them were as skilled as Omega and Xantium.
It would take a moment for Prowl to collate the information they had and as they did the com traffic where Ironhide was battling the fighters would keep all of them company.
=0=The Hourly News, 1800 TMC, Autobot City, Primal Colony of Mars, Cybertron and the Empire
"The latest information about the intervention currently underway in space up the Orion Arm from our solar system is still coming in. The Prime took the Alpha fleet out to interdict a large mixed armada, some who appear to be part of Shrike's fleet and that of a newcomer who's name has not been released yet.
"The fighting is fierce in a nebula nearby the path of interdiction. The casualties being reported for our soldiers and air armada are minor and being handled by the hospital vessel, Phobos. The Salton Sea, Omega, Beta and Xantium Supreme along with Tennyson, Dangerous and Typhoon are with Prime adding their formidable fire power to persuade the group to surrender or leave.
"Heavy tolls are being made against the intruder and it appears that a lot of wounded and surrendered prisoners are being taken. They are under the purview of Warden Gee-Gee and Empire Corrections with some coming here, some to Gliese for medical attention and others to the detention centers for criminals that are on Rabner III, a large planet in the inner system for Cybertron."
Lim-Lee took a message from someone off screen, read it, then looked back at the cameras. "It would appear that the leader of this group was the Warrior Elite known as Pulsar. A former high caste, this mech joined the Decepticons and was one of the first of them to be transformed through the grueling program devised by the war criminal Jhiaxus to create super soldiers for Megatron.
"He was engaged in battle, heavily wounded and taken into custody. He is currently in stasis and won't be able to bring his formidable skills and abilities against us. That's good news," she said as she put the data wafer down. "To continue ..." she said as the coverage rolled onward.
=0=In a lounge at Earth2
The highest rollers among the group were sitting in the lounge smoking cigars and drinking cocktails. Though smoking was banned on Mars by Primal decree and through consultation with medical, they were smoking here anyway. An electronics magnate and investment capitalist glanced at Owen Harris who was smoking his first Columbian cigar in ages. "What's this about? What's a Warrior Elite?" he asked.
Owen blew a smoke ring, then glanced at the screen. "That's what the phase sixers are called. They're the doom bringers and the one mechanism that can cause panic without exception among the populace."
It was silent a moment, then the magnate glanced to the screen. "Phase sixers. How many are there and where are they?"
"I heard that there may be as many as 45. Prime has about five or six bagged so your guess is as good as mine," Owen said with a slight grin.
It was quiet as the men watched the screen.
=0=On a security ward
He lay in stasis, the figure of Pulsar. He'd been modified by Ratchet who removed his arms and legs. Even through he was unconscionably lethal, most of what he could do required motion. He wouldn't be moving any time soon and when they revived him later for interrogation, he would be one pissed hombre.
=0=TBC 3-4-19 edited 3-30-19
ESL
hombre (ohm-bray) cowboy talk for another cowboy, man, sometimes used as an insult.